'Shake' it up, S.A., but do it on YouTube!

Updated 9:41 am, Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Goodbye “Gangnam Style,” hello “Harlem Shake.”

In just a few short weeks, “Harlem Shake” has become a viral video sensation, sweeping away Korean pop ditty “Gangnam Style” as it sweeps across the Internet with its convulsive dance moves and thumping beats.

The “Shake” already has shaken up millions of YouTube views and thousands of uploads. Everyone's doing it, from everyday college students and cubicle dwellers to famous faces such as Ryan Seacrest, Jon Stewart and, of course, Al Roker and the “Today” show crew.

But San Antonio has plenty of “Shake” to go around, too.

SeaWorld San Antonio has made a splash with more than 660,000 views of a “Shake” clip that features animal trainers shaking it up with California sea lions and a Pacific walrus. Meanwhile, the cloud-computing folks at Rackspace Hosting have racked up more than 437,000 views with their zany office-shaking video, and the University of Texas at San Antonio has two of its own “Shake” videos.

Local advertising agency Bromley hopped on the “Shake” train with a clip in front of the Alamo, complete with a guy dressed as a Mexican wrestler in blue jeans with a black cape and a red luchador mask, a girl in a hot pink wig and a feather boa, and another guy in a Dalmatian costume riding a horse skeleton straight out of a Día de los Muertos fire sale.

Mostafa Altameemi (in white) and Bennie Luza (in green) join with hundreds of other University of Texas at San Antonio students for a “Harlem Shake” at the Sombrilla, the main campus' covered plaza.

Mostafa Altameemi (in white) and Bennie Luza (in green) join with hundreds of other University of Texas at San Antonio students for a “Harlem Shake” at the Sombrilla, the main campus' covered plaza.

Photo: Bob Owen / San Antonio Express-News

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UTSA students participate in a "Harlem Shake" event in the Main Campus Sombrilla on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013.

UTSA students participate in a "Harlem Shake" event in the Main Campus Sombrilla on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013.

Photo: Bob Owen, San Antonio Express-News

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Kelli Bondoc, left, and Ramon Medellin, right, dressed up in costume as did hundreds of other UTSA students to participate in a "Harlem Shake" event in the Main Campus Sombrilla on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013.

Kelli Bondoc, left, and Ramon Medellin, right, dressed up in costume as did hundreds of other UTSA students to participate in a "Harlem Shake" event in the Main Campus Sombrilla on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013.

Photo: Bob Owen, San Antonio Express-News

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Elizabeth Cardenas dressed as Super Girl, joined other UTSA students to participate in a "Harlem Shake" event in the Main Campus Sombrilla on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013.

Elizabeth Cardenas dressed as Super Girl, joined other UTSA students to participate in a "Harlem Shake" event in the Main Campus Sombrilla on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013.

Photo: Bob Owen, San Antonio Express-News

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UTSA students participate in a "Harlem Shake" event in the Main Campus Sombrilla on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013.

UTSA students participate in a "Harlem Shake" event in the Main Campus Sombrilla on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013.

Photo: Bob Owen, San Antonio Express-News

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Slinder Man Sean, left, and Slinder Man Morgan joined hundreds of other UTSA students to participate in a "Harlem Shake" event in the Main Campus Sombrilla on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013.

Slinder Man Sean, left, and Slinder Man Morgan joined hundreds of other UTSA students to participate in a "Harlem Shake" event in the Main Campus Sombrilla on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013.

Photo: Bob Owen, San Antonio Express-News

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Zach Stevens and other members of the Bromley Communications staff produce a Harlem Shake video at Alamo Plaza on Friday Feb. 15, 2013.

Zach Stevens and other members of the Bromley Communications staff produce a Harlem Shake video at Alamo Plaza on Friday Feb. 15, 2013.

At around 30 seconds long, the typical “Shake” clip kicks off with someone in a mask or other strange headgear dancing while oblivious souls around him go about their business. The titular pulse-pounding tune by electronic music producer Baauer then builds to a swirling crescendo to “do the Harlem shake,” at which point the clip cuts to everybody freaking out to the heavy beat, many suddenly garbed in outlandish costumes with equally outlandish props.

The name Harlem Shake originally referred to a dance move from the early 1980s, though the current viral video phenom gets its moves mainly from a video with Baauer's song by TheSunnyCoastSkate posted on YouTube on Feb. 2. No shock, Baauer's “Harlem Shake” is now the No. 1 song on iTunes.

A hilarious “UTSA Fail Edition” has 43,000-plus views, but that's sure to get eclipsed by a new “Shake” clip starring UTSA President Ricardo Romo.

Romo joked that he'd been training all his life for his pep-rally style appearance Monday at UTSA, complete with students chanting, “Let's go, Romo, let's go!”

“This is my first dance craze,” said Romo, who received a request through his Facebook page to help with the viral video. “It's just exciting to have so many people out here.”

Soon hundreds of students joined in the mock mayhem that later will be recorded over with the driving “Harlem Shake” music.

A male student swiveled in a grass skirt and coconut bra. Three more danced with masks made of watermelon rinds covering their faces. Another student dressed as a gorilla chased another in a full-body banana costume.

UTSA freshman Rowan Ismail, 19, watched the dancing from a terrace above. She described the “Shake” as a universal movement that appeals to the masses, whether you're executing it in a swimming pool or in the midst of the Sombrilla, the main campus' covered plaza.

Erick Monroy, the Rackspace email administrator who came up with the idea to make a “Shake” video, said the inflatable Shamu and other odd doodads already were around the office. The one thing they brought in for the shoot: the motorcycle helmet on the dancing guy who launches the clip.

For the Bromley video, more than a dozen staffers marched on Alamo Plaza with a disassembled mannequin, a Day of the Dead cowboy skeleton, a Texas flag and other eccentric accessories.

“I strangely had about half of these props in my house, so it worked out well,” said Bromley junior copywriter Zach Stevens (aka the Alamo luchador).

Speaking of luchadores, you can't beat the cultural synergy of that Mexican wrestler mask.

Two “Shake” clips to drum up buzz for the upcoming CineFestival film festival feature Wappo, a wrestler character from the “Wappo vs. The World” Web shorts that lead up to the festival.

“We felt that a luchador mask would be culturally relevant yet still fit the demands of the 'Harlem Shake' video,” said CineFestival Director Jim Mendiola.

As for that other important “Harlem Shake” component, Stevens says don't let your dancing skills — or lack thereof — shake off any desire to join in on the fun.

“You don't have to have rhythm,” Stevens said. “You just have to have courage.”